Welt-guide.



J. T. MoISAAG.

WELT GUIDE.

APPLICATION FILED JANA, 1909.

1,030,741 Patented June 25, 1912.

[Me/2h.-

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPN :0, WASHINGTON, D. E).

lUlTE tl SAS JOHN T. IVICISAAC, OF EAST WEYMOU TH, MASSACHUSETTS,ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, ACORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

WELT-GUIDE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 25, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN T. MoIsAAo, a citizen of the United States,residing at East lVeymouth, in the county of Norfolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inWelt- Gruides; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

The present invention relates to welt guides for shoe sewing machines ofthat class which comprise a curved hook needle and which are used in themanufacture of shoes to secure together the welt, upper and insole. Anexample of one type of this class of machines is illustrated in thepatent to French 8; MeyenNo. 112,704.

In shoe sewing machines of the class above referred to the welt isguided and held in the proper position with relation to the needle bymeans of a guide provided with a welt guiding opening through which thewelt passes. This guide is moved intermittently toward and from the shoeso as to present the welt in proper position for the needle to enter thegroove in the welt and so as to be out of engagement with the shoe whilethe shoe is fed. To cause the welt to be held in the proper positionwith relation to the needle so that the needle will pass through thegroove in the welt it is customary to adjust the parts of the weltguideso that the welt guiding opening closely fits the welt. As aresult, the welt guide offers more or less resistance to the passage ofthe welt therethrough during the retractingmovement of the welt guideand during the feeding of the shoe so that the welt is often stretchedto an objectionable extent and more or less difliculty is experienced bythe operator in manipulating the shoe, particularly while sewing aroundthe toes of narroW-toed shoes.

The object of the present invention is to produce a welt guide for usein curved hook needle shoe sewing machines which will accurately holdthe welt in the proper position with relation to the needle and whichwill also allow the welt to pass freely through the welt guiding openingof the guide while the guide is withdrawn from the shoe or while theshoe is being fed by the feeding devices of the machine or is beingmanipulated by the operator.

With this object in view the invention contemplates the provision of awelt guide having members arranged to form a welt guid ing opening andmounted so as to be capable of movement with relation to each otherduring the sewing operation to contract and expand the welt guidinopening. By mounting the members of the welt guide which form the weltguiding opening, so as to be capable of moving with relation to eachother, the welt guiding opening can be contracted so as to accuratelyhold the welt in proper position with relation to the needle while theneedle is passing therethrough, and can be expanded while the welt guideis withdrawn from the shoe and during the feeding of the shoe to permitthe welt to pass freely therethrough. By the use of this guide the weltcan be sewed tightly and accurately to the upper and insole of a shoewithout exerting any objectionable stretching or retarding action 011the welt tending to impair the quality of the work or to interfere withthe feeding of the shoe or its manipulation by the operator. Anotheradvantage of this guide is that the leading end of the welt can beattached to the shoe without being held against the shoe by the operatorahead of the point of operation of the needle. \Vith welt guides asheretofore constructed, a separate welt holding device is required tohold the end of the welt, or the welt must be pulled through the guideby the operator and the seam started at some distance from the end ofthe welt. The length of welt pulled through the guide by the operator issubsequently out off in the manufacture of the shoe so that considerablewaste of the welt results. of shoes this waste often amounts to severalinches. By arranging the members of the welt guide so as to be capableof moving to expand the welt guiding opening, the welt can be permittedto pass so freely through the guide that the strands-of thread drawnthrough the work at the first retracting stroke of the needle aresufficient to hold the end of the welt on the shoe and permit the weltto be fed forward with the shoe. The seam can thus be started close tothe end of In a single pair the welt so that there is no waste, and aSgood or better results can be secured as by the use of a separate weltholding device to hold the end of the welt while the first stitches arebeing taken.

The above and other advantages secured by the use of the presentinvention will i be apparent to those skilled in the art from thefollowing description of the welt guide embodying the preferred form ofthe in vention.

Referring to the drawings accompanying this application, Figure 1 is atop plan view of a welt guide embodying the present in vention in itspreferred form. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the welt guideillust-rated in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view in side elevation of the guide.Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 4-t, Fig. 1,illustrating the relative position of the parts when the welt guidingopening is expanded. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 illustrating therelative position of the parts when the welt guiding openin iscontracted and Fig. 6 is a view in rear e evation of the guide.

The welt guide of a curved hook needle shoe sewing machine, as usuallyconstructed, comprises a metallic block, commonly known as the frame,and a thin sheet metal plate, commonly known as the shield, secured tothe frame and arranged to form with the,

frame a guiding opening for the welt. The shield is secured beneath theframe and the welt engaging surfaces of the shield and frame are curvedso as to give the desired transverse curvature to the welt. An abutmentor shoulder on the forward end of the frame forms a guide for the inneredge of the welt, while an adjustable finger, commonly known as thespring or gage, forms a guide for theouter edge of the welt. This weltguide is simple in construction, comprises a small number of parts andis strong and durable. For these reasons the present invention in itspreferred form is embodied in a welt guide having the same generalconstruction and arrangement of parts. It is to be understood, however,that the invention might be otherwise embodied and that except asdefined in the claims the invention is not limited to any specificconstruction and arrangementof the parts forming the guide.

In the guide illustrated in the drawing the frame is indicated at 1, andthe shield at 2. The frame is adapted to be secured in the usual mannerto the welt guide slide 3 of a curved hook needle shoe sewing machinesuch for instance as is disclosed in the patent to French & Meyer,hereinbefor referred to. The lower welt engaging surface 4; of the frameis curved so as to give the desired transverse curvature to the welt. Atthe end of the frame is a shoulder or abutment- 5 to engage the inneredge of the welt, and

adjustably secured to the frame by a clamping screw 6 is a gage 7 toengage the outer edge of the welt.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention a relative movement isprovided for between the shield and the frame to permit a contractionand. expansion of the welt guiding opening between the shield and theframe during the sewing operation. To this endthe shield is pivotallymounted at its rear end upon the frame and at its forward end isconnected to the frame so as to permit a limited swinging movement ofthe shield on its pivot toward and from the welt supporting surface ofthe frame. The pivot of the shield is indicated at S and consists of apin mounted in the frame and passing through an upturned flange of theshield, which flange is received in a slot cut in the frame. Theconnection between the forward end of the shield and the frame consistsof a pin 9 passing through the slotin the upturned front portion of theshield.

The operation of the welt guide illustrated in the drawing and abovedescribed will be apparent from an inspection of the drawing andparticularly of Figs. l and 5. When the welt guide is pressed toward theshoe, the shield 2 engages the shoe and'is forced toward the weltsupporting surface 4 of the frame so that the welt is securely held inthe welt guiding opening with its inner edge against the abutment 5.parts of the welt guide in the relative positions indicated in Fig. 5the welt will be securely held against the shoe with the groove in thepath of movement of the needle and the welt will be held in thisposition until the needle has pierced the work and has been withdrawntherefrom. During the withdrawing movement of the needle anydisplacement of the welt will be prevented by reason of its engagementwith the shield 2 and surface 4 of the frame, so that there will be noliability of loosening the preceding stitch by pulling the welt awayfrom the shoe during the retracting movement of the needle. As soon asthe welt guide is withdrawn from the shoe, however, the shield 2 willdrop to the position indicated in Fig. 4, thereby expanding the'weltguiding opening and permitting the welt to pass freely therethroughduring the continued backward movement of the guide and the feeding ofthe shoe.

The nature and scope of the present in vention having been indicated anda preferred form of the invention having been specifically described,what is claimedisz- 1. A welt guide for curved hook needle shoe sewingmachines, having, in combination, members arranged to form a weltguiding opening curved transversely to the lead of the welt and mountedfor movement with relation to each other during the sewing With theoperation to contract the welt guiding opening and hold the welt inproper position with relation to the needle and to expand the weltguiding opening and permit the welt to pass freely therethrough duringthe feeding of the shoe.

2. A welt guide for curved hook needle shoe sewing machines, having, incombination, a frame consisting of a metal block and a shield consistingof a thin sheet metal plate having a welt guiding opening between themcurved transversely to the lead of the welt, said frame and shield beingmounted for relative movement to contract and expand said opening duringthe sewing operation.

A welt guide for curved hook needle shoe sewing machines, having, incombination, a frame consisting of a metal block having a welt guidingsurface curved transversely to the lead of the welt and a shieldconsisting of a thin sheet metal plate correspondingly curved andmounted thereon to move toward and from the welt guiding surface oftheframe during the sewing'operation to contract and expand the weltguiding opening.

4. A welt guide for curved hook needle shoe sewing machines, having, incombination, a f time having a welt guiding surface curved transverselyto the lead of the welt, a shield correspondingly curved, a pivotalconnection between the rear end of the shield and the frame and aconnection between the front end of the shield and the frame permittingmovement of the shield toward and from the welt guiding surface duringthe sewing operation. In testimony whereof I atliX my signature,

in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN T. MOISAAC. Witnesses WARREN G. OGDEN, FRED O. FISH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

